Views

Views are short interpretive historical presentations from materials in the Railroads collection. Each View is aimed a research question or problem and assembles information from multiple sources: documents, lists, records, orginal maps, and other historical sources. Rather than using traditional footnotes or citations, these Views contain direct links and references to relevant sources used in their assembly. Views are "assemblages" of data and interpretation and should be considered multimedia experiments in the presentation of digital history.

  • William Jennings Bryan's 1894 U. S. Senate Campaign and American Politics

    William Jennings Bryan ran for the U.S. Senate in Nebraska in 1894 just two years before his run for the presidency at the head of the Democratic and Populist ticket. 1894 was a year of turmoil in American life, as strikes, violence, and economic depression rocked the nation. Byran's campaign was an important precursor to his national candidacy in 1896.

  • Women’s Experience on the Great Plains in the 1850s

    Sarah Sim and her husband Francis Sim migrated to Otoe County, Nebraska Territory, in 1856 to start a farm. Their trials and travails included the death of three of their children, the near suicide of Sarah, and the difficulties of moving to and farming in the Great Plains in the 1850s. This podcast with Leslie Working and William G. Thomas explores the significance of these letters and of the Sims’ experience in the years before the Civil War.

  • Death and Dying in 19th Century America

    This podcast with William G. Thomas and Leslie Working considers the experience of death and dying for 19th century Americans and the significance of changing ideas about death in American society. Sarah Sim and her husband Francis Sim migrated to Otoe County, Nebraska Territory, in 1856 to start a farm. Their trials included the death of three of their children, the near suicide of Sarah, the difficulties of moving to and farming in the Great Plains in the 1850s, and the death of Sarah from breast cancer in 1880.

  • Violence and Expansion on the Great Plains

    As railroads expanded across the Great Plains West, white settlement also spread through the region, encroaching upon Native American lands. Conflict among settlers, and between whites and Native peoples followed. Andrew Graybill and William G. Thomas compare violence and expansion on the Great Plains with the U. S. South, focusing especially on the Marias Massacre in Montana.

  • Railroads and Women's History on the Great Plains

    NET Radio Interview with William G. Thomas and Leslie Working explores the project goals and the ways railroads have been presented in history.